Wall Street landlords

Fault Lines investigates how Wall Street firms are returning to communities hardest-hit by the foreclosure crisis.

Private equity firms and hedge funds are buying up tens of thousands of foreclosed homes and converting them into rental properties. And they are creating one of the fastest growing financial investments by securitising their tenants' rent checks.

It has been six years since the foreclosure crisis devastated millions of American families. And now, many former homeowners are renting from Wall Street. It is a landlord's market, and rents are rising across the country.

So is the next housing crisis going to be about rent checks as opposed to mortgage payments?

Fault Lines travels to California and Georgia to investigate if Wall Street's rental gamble could jumpstart the economy or lay the foundation for a new crisis.

Fault Lines can be seen on Al Jazeera English each week at the following times GMT: Tuesday: 2230; Wednesday: 0930; Thursday: 0330; Friday: 1630; Saturday: 0530.